Quayle Is Urged to Back Border Troops

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) on Tuesday said he asked Vice President Dan Quayle to propose that President Bush beef up U.S. border patrols by assigning 10,000 U.S. soldiers to the task.

Gallegly said he made the pitch in a 45-minute meeting with Quayle and three other California Republican congressmen to discuss issues surrounding illegal immigration.

Previously, Gallegly said he has opposed using U.S troops to guard the border. But he said illegal immigration has grown so large that the President should use his powers as commander in chief to reassign bilingual soldiers to the U.S. Border Patrol.

“The President can do these things,” Gallegly said. “He can order troops to be trained for border patrol activities and implement that program.”

Gallegly said he requested the meeting with Quayle to alert the White House to the magnitude of the illegal immigration problem in Southern California. “From the reception I had from the vice president, I know that this message will be loudly communicated to the President,” the congressman said.

Gallegly is running for reelection in the newly drawn district that encompasses all of Ventura County except Thousand Oaks. He has gained wide publicity for his immigration proposals, including one that would deny U.S. citizenship to any child born in the United States if the mother is an illegal immigrant.